Crestfallen but full of rage, Yoona walked off the veranda and went to sit on one of the marble steps. She roughly wiped her face as bitter emotions ran through her veins. She exhaled heavily, wanting so desperately to just scream out all of her frustrations.

Taecyeon was already in a foul mood earlier that night, having lost a very important case. When he got home, he phoned his mother good night, a routine that he had acquired over the past four years. She asked him why he wasn't in Busan. He didn't know what she was talking about. She then explained how Tiffany and Khun left for Busan earlier that week for Jessica and Donghae's wedding, which was supposed to be on Sunday. Trying hard not to sound upset, he said he hadn't heard anything about it. Not that he expected to. Taecyeon hadn't spoken to any of them in over three years, including his own sister. But he couldn't help but feel hurt that they didn't invite him to the wedding.

'Whatever.' He brushed the momentary disappointment aside, knowing that they weren't included in his life anymore. All of that was in the past. Her mother then mentioned how Yoona had been trying to get a hold of him all last week. He said he knew. He just didn't have time to argue with her, so he avoided her calls. His mother said that was a mistake. Yoona and Yooyeon left for Busan that morning as well. Upon hearing this, Taecyeon was infuriated. He cut the conversation with his mother short and dialed a new number.

Yoona hated him. She hated his temper, his irrationality, his selfishness. She hated what he did to her in the past. How he treated his daughter. Who he had become. She shook her head and smoothed her hair in an attempt to shake off the anger. Mostly she hated herself for being so powerlessly affected by him. But she knew that was unavoidable, Taecyeon would always be a part of her. Every time she looked at her little girl, she was reminded of that.

Taecyeon slammed down the phone onto the receiver causing it to crack. He began to pace around the room, constantly running his impatient fingers through his hair. This time Yoona had pushed too far. 'What does she want from me? Why the hell does Yoona always have to be so difficult? I have rights to Yooyeon too! I'm her father! She should've tried harder to contact me!'

The fact that she took his little girl to Busan without him knowing scared Taecyeon, but why? Maybe because this proved that Yoona could take Yooyeon away, and he wouldn't know until it was too late. Deep down, his conscience knew he wasn't being a very good father. Yoona had almost every justification to run away with Yooyeon, almost. But he'd never admit this openly. He blamed it on his work. He hardly saw her because of the chaotic schedule of his career. He never meant it to be that way. He never wanted it to be that way. But it was. He forgot how he ended up putting his career before his own family, how he chose working over living. It just happened. No, he knew how it happened. He just wanted to forget. But all that crap in the past didn't seem to matter anymore. He loved his daughter. He wasn't doing a good job of showing it, but he did. And he knew Yooyeon loved him back. He knew it.

People used to tell Yoona that she and Taecyeon were forced together by kismet, fate, destiny. What they once shared was so rarely wonderful, it was almost perfection. He was so good to her, so loving, so giving, so unbelievably kind.

But one phone call had changed everything. In a blink of an eye, their world collapsed, and their lives were changed forever. Taecyeon wasn't who she thought he was, and it took Yoona nearly two years to admit that. The day she lost Taecyeon, she lost faith in love.

Five years, eight months earlier…

After a long day at the office, Yoona entered the apartment she and Taecyeon shared which was across the hall from Tiffany and Khun's. Last year, they all decided to move out of the dorms and get places of their own. It was incredibly convenient that both apartments were vacant the day they went looking.

She was greeted by Taecyeon with a sweet kiss. He had been looking into graduate schools all day. Even though he already worked at the Museum of Natural History, he wanted a doctorate in paleontology. Yoona never understood why. Still, it was one of many funny charms that she admired about him. He liked dinosaurs and she loved him for it.

"Hi sweetie..." he said as he embraced her into a long hug. She didn't want to let go, but she knew she had to. She needed to get ready for school. Yoona was taking night classes to finish her business degree. She worked fulltime during the day, but she was tired of being an assistant. She wanted to be the person who had an assistant.

"I made dinner. You should eat before you leave."

"Aww. What would I do without you?" Yoona asked, gazing at Taecyeon adoringly. They shared another sweet kiss.

Just then, the phone rang. "Oh, I'll go answer it. Can you put some rice in a bowl for me?"

"Sure sweetie." and Taecyeon walked off to the kitchen while Yoona retrieved the cordless phone from their bedroom.

"Hello? Oh Hi Mrs. Ok…" She was taken aback by incoherent sobs on the other end. "Why are you crying? What's wrong? Is everything alright?" she asked panicked. She couldn't understand what his mother was saying, but she knew it was definitely not good news.

"Wait, hold on, let me get Taecyeon..." She walked into the kitchen to find Taecyeon at the dinner table waiting for her. Yoona swallowed hard.

"Oppa..." she whispered trembling.

"It's your mother..."

Present…

"Yoong, sweetie, are you okay?" asked a concerned Tiffany. Yoona turned around abruptly, surprised to see her two best friends standing behind her. Her bloodshot eyes said it all. "Oh Yoona..." whispered Tiffany. Jessica knelt down to hold her.

"How, how did you know I wasn't okay? I've only been out here for a few minutes..."

"Well, your bedroom window is right above the veranda and it was open, we, we kinda heard you yelling." explained Jessica. Yoona's eyes widened.

"But, but we took Yooyeon out of the room and put her into mine and Khun's. She was pretty much zonked out so she didn't really hear anything." Yoona nodded relieved.

"Yoong, that was Taecyeon wasn't it?" Tiffany asked reluctantly, already knowing the answer. Yoona nodded her head again. Tiffany fought the irritation she felt at the very mention of her brother's name. "Come on sweetie, let's get you inside. I'll make us some coffee." They helped Yoona up and went in.

From the moment Taecyeon laid eyes on her, he put Yoona on this pedestal, knowing no woman would affect him the same ever again. His friends encouraged him to keep faith that one day, it would happen. They would be together. It took him years to finally build up the bravery to admit his feelings. When he finally told her during his sophomore year at Dankook, he found out she had been in love with him as well. He regretted that he didn't tell her sooner.

But that was a long time ago when Taecyeon was still naive to the cruelties of life. Childhood crushes and puppy love belonged in fictional romance novels, not in the real world. He learned this the hard way, and was never the same after.

5 years earlier…

Taecyeon woke up to find himself under mounds of legal documents, messy court papers, and books thrown everywhere around the bedroom. There was no sign of Yoona. The previous night he had been helping his father's lawyer search for clauses about successful cases dealing with Framed Murder. He didn't remember falling asleep.

He glanced at the clock as it blinked 5:12PM. Had he really slept thru the entire day? He rubbed his head, feeling the effects of a migraine that hadn't left him the past eight months. Taecyeon graduated from Dankook about a year ago with a BS in Paleontology. He was then planning to get his PhD in the same subject.

But he wasn't studying Paleontology anymore. He was in Law School, studying Criminal Defense. The words a friend once said to him haunted him as he regained full consciousness. "Have faith, man." Khun reassured him. "They'll get to the bottom of this."

Just then, Yoona walked through the door carrying a pile of heavy folders. "Did you just wake up?"

"Yeah, I didn't know I slept that long. How was work?"

"Well, it's gotten a lot easier now that I have an assistant. He's a bit slow though, so I had to take some extra paperwork home."

Taecyeon raised his eyebrows. "He?"

Cautiously Yoona answered, "Yeah. Taecyeon please don't make this into anymore than it is. He was the most qualified within the offered salary range." Taecyeon couldn't help but still feel slightly jealous. "Honey, we hardly get to spend time with each other anymore. I don't want to fight."

Sadly, Taecyeon understood what she meant completely. "Yeah. I'm sorry, it's just, I've been a wreck lately, you know? Especially with the trial next week." his voice trailed off.

"I know sweetie, I know." Yoona walked over and put her arms around Taecyeon's waist. She ran her hands up and down his back comfortingly. He looked down at her, and held her tightly. He was so grateful to have her. In no way did he ever believe life would throw him something as twisted as this, but Yoona kept his faith going. He never forgot how he felt the day his mother called. It was permanently imbedded into his memory.

His perfect world had shattered the day his father was arrested with charges of murder in the first degree, child abuse, and molestation.

Present…

"Taecyeon." called a woman from the bedroom. He ignored her. Eventually, she came out and found him sitting on the sofa, in the dark. "Why didn't you answer me!" she whined.

He turned to look up at her briefly, thoughts racing in and out of his head. He quickly jumped up and ran into the bedroom. Bewildered, the woman followed him. He got out a suitcase and started throwing random pieces of clothing into it.

"What are you doing? Do you have a business trip or something?" she asked desperately.

"Sort of." He continued packing.

"What's going on?" she was getting frantic.

"Yubin, I gotta take care of something. You can stay the night but I'm not gonna be back for a few weeks. If you need me, call the office and leave a message. I'll be checkin' in with my secretary."

"So where the hell are you going?"

"Busan." He walked out of the apartment and slammed the door behind him.